Theatre and Culture from Scotland, starring The List's Theatre Editor, his performance persona and occasional guest stars. Experimental writings, cod-academic critiques and all his opinions, stolen or original.

Monday, 5 June 2017

Her Dramaturgy: Maddy Anholt @ Edfringe 2017

Character comedian Maddy Anholt returns following five-star sell-outs at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Soho Theatre with a brand spanking new and hilarious hour that delves into her surreal and sparkly world of outlandish characters.

What
was the inspiration for this performance?

I’m
coming up to 30… gulp and I felt this was the year, more than ever,
to do have a show exactly how I wanted it. A show that was a bit
crazy, I didn’t hold back on and allowed me, in some way, to use
all of the characters I’d been storing up over the years.
Inevitably, it has a through-line of women being presented with, and
sometimes achieving their goals.

Is
performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

Without
fail; but sometimes that’s not always a good thing. Often it works
positively – the performance space allows the performers a medium
to showcase their ideas and provoke discussion. However sometimes, it
can work negatively – being a performer, should allow free
expression yet that expression can be dulled by over-sensitivity and
bitterness. I’ve been in performances before (not my own) where a
member of the audience would rather shout out their contempt and
disturb the performance than walk out. Surely one of the greatest
stands is leaving if you don’t agree? As we saw beautifully
displayed when graduating students walked out of Mike Pence’s
Commencement Speech at Notre Dame recently.

How
did you become interested in making performance?

I
think I’ve always been interested in a job that gives you free
reign to use your creativity. It wasn’t until I actually did it
that I realised that’s not always the case! But making performance
is vital for me, I live and breath it and when I’m not working or
writing or creating I feel like that muscle gets weak and I’ve got
to find a way to use it again.

Is
there any particular approach to the making of the show?

Herselves
was a jigsaw puzzle. I knew what I wanted to create but I didn’t
know how to put it together. I started by getting a huge piece of
paper and writing down every single character, or every idea for a
character I’ve ever had and then circling themes that that
character would like to talk about. For the first time with a show I
haven’t started with a theme and then slotted characters or ‘bits’
in, and that was very freeing.

Once
I roughly had the characters I put them in a line up and thought
which order they would go in and what their linking themes could be.
What I started with was very different to what I ended with! Even
now, in the preview stages I’m taking whole characters out and
putting new ones in.

Does
the show fit with your usual productions?

Funnily
enough, this show fits with the very first show I took to the
Edinburgh Fringe in 2011. After that I went much more towards
scripted and then very far away. I think with this show I’ve got
the right balance of improvised sections and scripted sections, and
then sections that change entirely in every show.

What
do you hope that the audience will experience?

Most
importantly, entertainment! I’ve tried to do shows with heavy
political messages in but what I wanted to create this year was a
show everybody could be entertained by at least once… hopefully
more!

What
strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

I
decided to do the show in sections of characters – there’s
sixteen in total! From my Persian Princess Rude girl, to the cleaner
that got lost and found herself hosting a radio show! This means it’s
a fast-moving show but also a show that audience members can take out
parts afterwards. I’m hoping the audience will go out saying ‘I
liked that character’, ‘I didn’t like that character’! That’s
the kind of public discussion I want!

Absurd opinions, extended reviews, random press releases from The Arts, half baked ideas, unsuccessful experiments with the format of criticism. Brought to you by the host of The Vile Arts Radio Hour and former Theatre Editor of The Skinny, now working with The List